The Chicago Blackhawks are a single victory away from hoisting Lord Stanley’s Mug for the second time in the last four seasons.

On Saturday at the United Center, Chicago beat Boston 3-1 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, taking a 3-2 series lead and giving itself two close-out opportunities in the process.

And the ‘Hawks have Patrick Kane to thank.

The former No. 1 overall pick continued his flair for the dramatic in Game 5, scoring a pair of goals — including the game-winner — in what proved to be a hard-fought, tight-checking affair.

The goal cemented Kane as one of the league’s top performers in the clutch.

His resume now includes a hat trick vs. Vancouver in a Western Conference semifinal elimination game (2009), a Stanley Cup-winning OT goal (2010) and another hat-trick in an elimination game — last round against the Kings, where Kane knocked the defending champs out of the Western Conference finals (by scoring his third and final goal in double overtime, no less.)

The bigger news, aside from Kane’s heroics, was the war of attrition catching up to both clubs.

Chicago captain Jonathan Toews and Boston forward Patrice Bergeron were both knocked out of Game 6 with undisclosed injuries. Toews is believed to have been shaken up on a Johnny Boychuk hit midway through the contest, and didn’t return to play the third period.

Bergeron is thought to have suffered some sort of internal injury — rumors swirled of a spleen issue — and was admitted to Chicago-area hospital for observation during the game.

He was discharged and traveled with the team back to Boston, though.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien said he’s optimistic Bergeron will play in Game 6, which is understandable — if the Bruins want to prevent the ‘Hawks from capturing the Cup on their home ice, they’ll definitely need No. 37’s contributions.

The Boston Bruins knew that in order to capture the 2013 Stanley Cup, they’d need to win at least one game at Chicago’s United Center.

On Saturday, they did exactly that.

The Bruins got the all-important split in Chicago and wrestled home ice advantage away from the ‘Hawks with a 2-1 overtime victory over the weekend, sending the Stanley Cup Final back to Boston knotted a one game a piece.

Boston managed to survive a Chicago onslaught in the opening frame, as netminder Tuukka Rask stopped 18 of 19 shots faced (the Bruins, meanwhile, only put four shots on Corey Crawford).

From there, the B’s steadily put their mark on the game, upping the physicality while limiting the Blackhawks’ chances on goal.

And by limiting, we mean limiting: Chicago had 19 shots in the opening frame…and just 14 through periods two, three and overtime.

“Maybe we left something out there,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “[We] had everything right in that first part of the game; had some good looks, as well. [We] did what we were looking to do.

“But, hey, it’s a long game. You know, we got to be better than that.”

The series will now turn to TD Garden, where the Bruins have a long history of Stanley Cup Final dominance.

In 2011, the B’s mopped the floor with Vancouver in Boston, winning their three home games by 8-1, 4-0 and 5-2 scorelines — a combined 17-3 count that represented one of the most lopsided home ice advantages in playoff history.

As you’d expect, the Bruins are excited about the opportunity to get things going at the Garden, but know they’ll need a better start in Game 3 than they had in Game 2.

“Once we simplified our game and got our feet going, that’s when things started happening for us,” Milan Lucic told CSNNE.com. “Hopefully we don’t wait a period in the next to actually wake up.”

The Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins made history over the weekend.

By winning the Western and Eastern Conference finals, the ‘Hawks and Bruins set up a Stanley Cup finals featuring two of the league’s most storied franchises.

This matchup is the first Original Six battle since the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers met in the 1979 Stanley Cup finals.

So storied, yes.

But familiar? Nope.

These two have never faced each other for Lord Stanley’s Mug before.

The Bruins got there in the most improbable of fashions — sweeping the East’s No. 1 seed, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in four straight games. The Bruins did it on the strength of outstanding goaltending from Tuukka Rask, who only allowed two goals over the course of the series, and some timely scoring.

In Game 4, that timely scoring came from defenseman Adam McQuaid, who made just his second goal of this postseason one of the biggest of his career. His tally stood as the winning marker as Boston defeated Pittsburgh 1-0, putting the Bruins in their second Stanley Cup finals in the last three years.

Out West, the Blackhawks advanced to their second Cup finals appearance in four years as they dispatched of the defending champion Los Angeles Kings.

Chicago got a classic clutch performance from forward Patrick Kane, who scored a hat-trick in the 4-3 victory, scoring a beauty game-winner in double-overtime.

That set the stage for what should be a tremendous 2013 Stanley Cup finals — one that gets underway on Wednesday, June 12 on NBC.,

Saturday and Sunday proved to be very interesting in terms of opening up the Eastern and Western Conference finals.

In the East, the underdog Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 series lead and stole home ice advantage thanks to a 3-0 win over Pittsburgh at Consol Energy Center on Saturday.

The Bruins did it in their usual fashion — hard checking, asserting physicality — a strategy that really seemed to work.

The Penguins hadn’t been shutout in 96 games since the Toronto Maple Leafs did it on Feb. 1, 2012, and hadn’t been blanked in a playoff game since a 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their first-round series in 2011.

The Bruins also managed to goad the Penguins in 28 total penalty minutes on the night, including a second period that ended with the unlikeliest of players — Evgeni Malkin — engaging in a fight with Boston’s Patrice Bergeron.

Out West, the ‘Hawks took a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Kings with back-to-back wins at the United Center.

In doing so, Chicago may have figured out the key to this entire playoff: How to beat Jonathan Quick. The Kings goalie, who has been virtually unbeatable this postseason, looked flat in allowing six goals on 47 shots before being yanked in favor of Jonathan Bernier in Game 2.

Quick allowed four total goals in Game 2, which was a rarity — the last time he had allowed four goals in a postseason affair was April 25, 2011, when the San Jose Sharks needed overtime in Game 6 of the conference quarterfinals to eliminate the Kings.

“Whoever is shooting the puck, we feel as a team that we have the confidence that it’s going to go in at some point,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “So we’ll keep shooting the puck, creating those chances and trying to take his [Quick’s] confidence away.”

The Eastern and Western Conference playoff landscapes couldn’t be any different at the moment.

Out East, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins advanced to the conference final with relative ease — the Penguins dispatched of the Senators and the Bruins took care of the Rangers in five games each.

Out West, it’s a different story as both the LA-San Jose and Chicago-Detroit series are headed to Game 7 showdowns.

San Jose forced the one-game, winner-takes-all finale with a 2-1 victory on Sunday in Game 6 at HP Pavilion, where the Sharks have yet to lose this postseason.

But now, San Jose faces a tall task in trying to get a win at Staples, where the Kings have yet to lose this postseason.

In the other series, Chicago sent the series to Game 7 after rallying from a 3-1 deficit, most notably with a 4-3 win at Joe Louis on Monday in Game 6.

The ‘Hawks rallied to even the series by doing what they do best — scoring goals.

After notching just six through the first four games of the series, Chicago has scored eight over its last two while going a 3-for-8 on the power play.

With the wins, Chicago now reaps the benefits of being the No. 1 seed and will host Game 7 at the “Madhouse on Madison” — the United Center.

The Blackhawks are an impressive 5-1 at home this postseason and boasted an 18-3-3 mark at home during the regular season, the second-best record in the NHL.